Iranian Photojournalist Yalda Moaiery Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

Iranian photojournalist Yalda Moaiery learned on August 8, 2026 — Iran's National Journalist Day — that she had been sentenced to 15 years in prison. The charge sheet accuses her of interviewing "networks hostile to the system" and sending photographs to organizations linked to the United States and Israel.

Moaiery says she shared photographs of air-strike damage in Iran with CNN and gave an interview about her reporting in March 2026. The sentence was handed down under a 2025 espionage law enacted after the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, which halves the appeal window to just 10 days.

Her home was raided by the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps during anti-government protests in January, and her phone and laptop were confiscated at the time. Moaiery has been imprisoned before: in 2022 she spent three months in jail and was sentenced to eight years for covering the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests, a sentence later reduced by amnesty.

The same week, 18-year-old photographer Shaghayegh Afshar Najafi was sentenced to nine years in prison. Afshar Najafi, from Qazvin, was arrested at home on February 14 and charged with "assembly and collusion against national security" for sending photos and video to the news outlet Iran International. Combined, the two women's sentences total 24 years.

Reporters Without Borders says 16 journalists have been detained in Iran this year. Moaiery's work has largely focused on women's lives, and she has told Reuters she intends to continue working.